Lifestyle International plans Rs 400 cr investments in India

Kabir Lumba, MD, Lifestyle International says the company

is planning Rs 400 crores investment for retail expansion in India. He says the company is looking opening 6-8 stores of Lifestyle and about six stores of Home Centre in the next 2-3 years. Apart from these, they also plan to launch 15-25 stores of Max, 5-10 stores of Bossini each year. The Splash store count would also be increased to 25 in nex three to four years.

At present Splash has about seven stores in the country and Lumba says that the company will try to make the best use of the Landmark group’s synergies to introduce new formats. It is also considering formats like Baby shop. On whether the opening of FDI in retail and entry of big players like IKEA in the country would adversely impact Home Centre, he says Home Centre with more than 60-65 stores in the Middle East is competent enough to compete with strong brands like IKEA and that such brands will only add value to the market creating healthy competition. He further says they expect to maintain a growth rate of 25 per cent but is cautiously optimistic about the prospects of Indian retail.